HORTICULTURE. 



253 



r , ..: 

 . 



As tall slight (take* mast be placed for them to climb 

 upon, the distance allowed between the rows of these 

 is commonly four feet. If the runners be sown in Ju- 

 ly, they continue to produce pods till stopped by the 

 frost. In dry seasons, frequent watering greatly con- 

 duces to the abundance of the crops. For the late*t 

 summer crop, the seed is commonly soaked fur sosa* 

 hours in milk and water. Mr Marshall recommends 

 laying it in damp mould till it begin to chit or germi- 

 nate, and then sowing it in watered drills. The white 

 Canterbury is the sort generally town to produce small 

 pods lor pickling. 



For a supply at wed, tome of the early summer 

 plants, either dwarf* or runners, should be left un- 

 touched; the first produced pods being always the 

 beat, the whole strength of the plant* being thus di- 

 rected to perfecting the teed*. These will ripen in 

 September. The haulm i* then palled up, and allowed 

 to dry with the pod* on it ; the wed being found in 

 this way to acquire further maturation. 



3O4. Kidney-beans are easily forced, and they form 

 a very desirable early spring dish. They are sometimes 

 raiani in hot-bed*; bat more generally, and with 

 greater certainty, in hot-booses. They are sown in 

 pot* in January and February, sod placed on a flat 

 trellis over the flue*, on shelves, or in any other conve- 

 nient airaarion. Three plant* are generally allotted to 

 each pot of a foot in diameter. A light rich earth, or 

 what is caliad nsnrffaher mould, is the soil unftuad. 

 With fteottcnt moderate supplies of water they make 

 lianas, and afford pods in March, April, and 

 The dwartspwUsd is the kind generally owd 

 in Hot-houses ; bat, for hot-bed*, the early white I* per. 

 better, a* being of more dwarfish 



IM,,, |. ,-ttn 

 French, 



above two hun- 

 dred varieties of the haricot, but of lhe*e not more than 

 twenty are in esteem. They speak of a new variety 

 called the Yellow Kidnsy-bean of Canada, which they 

 describe a* the moat dwarfish, and the earliest of all. 

 The Rice Kidney-bean they mention ass slender runner, 

 rising six feet high, bat having wads which, even when 

 ripe, are not larger than 

 as very good in the unr _ 

 when prepared under roast fowl. 



R*xltnt Roots. 



IT is, pel haps, scarcely nacteaery to explain, that the 

 rm root* ia applied to the tuben of the potato and 



The 



.prm- up 

 I he .'.-in 



saw fovfaMMi MMfOMsji, L. ; Pcnlan. 



LuriJir. L. ; SoaMMcmr, Jus*.) may be 

 as a perennial plant, a* it will continue to 

 for many acceaei ve year* on the same spot 

 rises from two to three feet in height, i* 



branched, netalant, and frequently spotted with red ; 

 the branchas long and weak ; flowers white, or tinged 

 with purple ; the fruit is a round berry, green at first, 

 IHJI black when ripe, commonly called potato-apple. 

 The part used consist* of the tuber*, which are produced 

 on runners, proceeding from the stem of the plant. 

 MfJL Sir Joseph Banks has artisJaetorirr bewn. 

 ran first brought from 



Spain about the middle of the 16th century, as they are 

 mentioned, under the name of papa*, in C'icia's Chro- 

 nicle, printed in 1553, and now a very rare book. 

 They were not introduced into this country till near 

 the close of the century, when they appear to have 

 been brought from Virginia by the colonists sent out 

 by Sir Walter Raleigh, and who returned in 1586; 

 Hcrriot, one of these colonists, describing the potato, 

 under the name openawk, in his account of the country 

 they had visited, preserved in De Dry's Collection of 

 Voyages, It is said, that Sir Walter Haleigh planted 

 them on his own estate near Cork. They were goon 

 carried over into Lancashire; but near half a century 

 elapsed before they were much known at London. Ge- 

 rarde and Parkinson describe the plant by the title of 

 Batata Virginiana, to distinguish it from the Spanish 

 potato, Convolvulus batatas. It was at first raised on- 

 ly in botanic gardens. Parkinson mentions, however, 

 that the tubers were sometimes roasted, and steeped in 

 sack and sugar, or baked with marrow and spices, and 

 even preserved and candied by the comfit-makers. In 

 1663, the Royal Society took some measures for encou- 

 raging the cultivation of potatoes, with the view of 

 preventing famine. Still, however, although their uti- 

 lity a* an article of food was better known, n 

 character was bestowed on them. In books of garden- 

 ing, published towards the end of the 17th century, a 

 hundred yean after their introduction, they are .' ) 

 of rather slightingly. " They are much used in Ir.-- 

 land and America as bread," say* one author, " and 

 may be propagated with advantage to poor people." 

 " f do not hear that it hath been yet essayed," are the 

 words of another, " whether they may not be propa- 

 gated in great quantities, for food fur swine or other 

 ren the enlightened Kvi-Un aeeins to have 

 a prejudice against them. " Plant pota- 

 he say*, writing in 10'!"). " in your wont 

 ground. Take them up in November for winter spend- 

 ing ; there will enough remain fora clock, though <-ver 

 so exactly gathered." The famous nurserymen, Lon- 

 don and Wiw, whose names have been already repeat- 

 edly mentioned, have not considered the potato HI 

 worthy of notice in their Complete Gardener, publiih- 

 d in 1719; and Bradley who, about the same time, 

 wrote so extensively on horticultural subjects, speaks 

 of them a* inferior to ikirreU and radishes. 



The use of potatoes gradually spread, a* their ex- 

 esllsot qualities became better understood. It waa 

 near the middle of the 1 8th centary , however, before 

 they were generally known over the country: since 

 that time they have been most extensively cultivated. 

 In 1796, it was found that, in the county of Essex 

 alone, about 1700 acre* were planted with potatoes 

 for the supply of the London market. This must form 

 no doubt the principal supply ; but many fields of po- 

 tatoes are to be wen in the other counties bordering on 

 the capital, and many ship-load* are annually import. 

 ad from a distance. 



The cultivation of potatoes in gardens in Scotland, 

 was very little understood till about the year 1740; 

 and it was not practised in fields till about twenty 

 year* after that period. It is stated in the " General 

 Report" of Scotland, (vol. ii. p. 1 1 1), as a well . 

 taincd fact, that in the year 1725-6, the frw potato 

 plant* then existing in gardens about F.dinburgh, were 

 left in the same spot of ground from year to year. 



Kitchen 

 Garden. 



Potatix-. 



shewn, that 



by Kvelyn; a few tubers were per- 

 haps removed for use in the autumn, and the parent 

 plant* were then well covered with Utter to save them 



